Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
The devil's in the dreaming
He tells you I'm not sleeping in my hotel room alone
With nothing to believe in
You dive into the traffic rising up
And it's so quiet
You're surprised
And then you wake
For all the things you're losing
You might as well resign yourself to try and make a change
I'm going down to Hollywood
They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find
crawling round my brain
I wish I was a girl so that you could believe me
And I could shake this static everytime I try to sleep
I wish for all the world that I could say,
"Hey Elizabeth, you know, I'm doing alright these days."
The devil's in the dreaming
You see yourself descending from a building to the ground
You watch the sky receding
You spin to see the traffic rising up
And it's so quiet
You're surprised
And then you wake
For all the things I'm losing
I might as well resign myself to try and make a change
But I'm going down to Hollywood
They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find
crawling round my brain
I wish I was a girl so that you could believe me
And I could shake this static every time I try to sleep
I wish for all the world that I could say,
"Hey Elizabeth, you know, I'm doing alright these days."
In one of these dreams, you forgive me
It makes me think of the bad decisions that keep you at home
How could anyone else have changed?
All these wrong conclusions that leave you alone
How could everyone rearrange?
How could everyone else have changed?
What I see I believe
For all the things I'm losing
I might as well resign myself to try and make a change
Well, I'm going down to Hollywood
They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find
crawling around my brain
I wish I was a girl so that you could believe me
And I could shake this static everytime I try to sleep
I wish for all the world that I could say,
"Hey Elizabeth, you know, I'm doing alright these days."
But I can't sleep at night
He tells you I'm not sleeping in my hotel room alone
With nothing to believe in
You dive into the traffic rising up
And it's so quiet
You're surprised
And then you wake
For all the things you're losing
You might as well resign yourself to try and make a change
I'm going down to Hollywood
They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find
crawling round my brain
I wish I was a girl so that you could believe me
And I could shake this static everytime I try to sleep
I wish for all the world that I could say,
"Hey Elizabeth, you know, I'm doing alright these days."
The devil's in the dreaming
You see yourself descending from a building to the ground
You watch the sky receding
You spin to see the traffic rising up
And it's so quiet
You're surprised
And then you wake
For all the things I'm losing
I might as well resign myself to try and make a change
But I'm going down to Hollywood
They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find
crawling round my brain
I wish I was a girl so that you could believe me
And I could shake this static every time I try to sleep
I wish for all the world that I could say,
"Hey Elizabeth, you know, I'm doing alright these days."
In one of these dreams, you forgive me
It makes me think of the bad decisions that keep you at home
How could anyone else have changed?
All these wrong conclusions that leave you alone
How could everyone rearrange?
How could everyone else have changed?
What I see I believe
For all the things I'm losing
I might as well resign myself to try and make a change
Well, I'm going down to Hollywood
They're gonna make a movie from the things that they find
crawling around my brain
I wish I was a girl so that you could believe me
And I could shake this static everytime I try to sleep
I wish for all the world that I could say,
"Hey Elizabeth, you know, I'm doing alright these days."
But I can't sleep at night
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